Déjà vu, Part 1
by Il fanatico
Summary: When a Marine who was part of a top-secret operation is killed, the Major Case Response Team investigates. Quickly, the case becomes complicated and larger than anyone had expected. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! T for minor violence.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or anything related to NCIS._

_Summary: When a Marine who was part of a top-secret operation is killed, the Major Case Response Team investigates. Quickly, the case becomes complicated and larger than anyone had expected. Set after Sea8 Epi17 but with elements from Epi20. T for minor violence later on._

A man in a Marine uniform pushed hurriedly through the crowd, leaving a trail of agitated bystanders behind him. He bowled over a small child, got pick pocketed, and had obscenities yelled at him, and yet he didn't stop. He held nothing but a cell phone, and kept glancing over his shoulder as if he thought someone was following him. Suddenly, he turned into a small alley and picked up his pace. Again glancing over his shoulder, he began to turn out of the alley onto a quiet, house-lined street. Then, there was a sound not unlike a cough, and a bullet whizzed by the man's face.

The man stumbled, his ear ringing. He righted himself, and continued running at a frenzied pace until he stopped at a small house. He dashed up the steps leading to its door, and pounded on the bell, almost sobbing, "Please, please, please!"

As tears started to pour out of the man's eyes, the door opened; then his eyes widened as they fell upon an unfamiliar face, and glazed over when a bullet tore through his brain.

The elevator door dinged open, and Special Agent Tony DiNozzo stepped out into the NCIS bullpen. His gaze first went to the desk where the new girl, EJ, already sat, busy working. She was wearing her typical black leather outfit, her golden locks spilling down her back. She seemed to sense Tony's gaze on her, and turned around, a suggestive smile playing with her features. Tony smiled back, remembering their last meeting.

THWACK! Tony's eyes crossed as he was roughly slapped by Gibbs, who was walking out of the elevator. "Get moving, DiNozzo. We've got a dead Marine."

"On your six, boss," Tony said quickly, following Gibbs into the bullpen, where McGee was typing intently on his computer's keyboard. Looking over at Ziva's desk, he saw that it was empty. He wasn't too worried, as this had started to become a habit of hers.

_ Tony sat at his desk, looking over at his partner's and, seeing that there was no one behind it, assumed that she was late. With McGee down in the lab and Ziva late to work, he had no one to tease, and so began replaying the previous day's events in his mind._

_ EJ wrapped in a short towel, leaning against the shower wall as they discussed the Rota, Spain position…then, at his house, how she was constantly within six inches of him as he whipped up some dinner, popped a movie in the player, and then fell asleep within the first five minutes of the classic…once unconscious, her head and shoulders had fallen into his lap, rendering him unable to move without waking her…_

_ "Daysleeping, my little hairy butt?" A lightly accented voice whispered softly in his ear, jerking Tony from his reverie. He turned his head to see that she had suddenly appeared right behind him and was now leaning over his shoulder, with her face only an inch from his. "Jeez, David! Don't DO that! And it's day_dreaming_, not day_sleeping_! And I was not-"_

_ "Oh, so you were having dream sex!" she said, laughing as she pulled away and returned to her desk._

_ "I was not-"_

_ "Gear up, we've got a dead petty officer!" And Tony was interrupted for the third time that day._

"Where's David?" Gibbs asked him. "We've got a dead Marine on our hands!"

"I'm not sure, boss…you know, she's been late a lot lately," McGee replied, pausing in his work. "Should I call her?" Gibbs just looked at him. Even Tony, who had gone over to his own desk to check his e-mail, gave McGee a quizzical glance.

"Right, boss," McGee muttered, picking up his phone. He had just begun to dial Ziva's number when a voice piped up from across the room.

"I can go with you guys today," EJ said, standing up and looking over the short wall separating them.

With a raised eyebrow, Gibbs queried, "Don't you have your own team, Agent…"

"EJ, EJ Barret. My team has the day off, and I really have nothing to do. Plus, I would like the opportunity to observe the best NCIS team at work."

Gibbs just shrugged, and, shifting his backpack to his other shoulder, briskly walked towards the elevator. "Coming?" he asked, seeing that no one had moved.

"On it, Boss!"

_This is my first fanfiction piece, so constructive criticism and other feedback would be appreciated, but hate would not. And please tell me if you like the story so far! I have a couple more chapters ready to be posted, so if you like the story, you will not have to wait long for it to continue._


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or anything related to NCIS._

_Summary:_ _When a Marine who was part of a top-secret operation is killed, the Major Case Response Team investigates. Quickly, the case becomes complicated and larger than anyone had expected. Set after Sea8 Epi17 but with elements from Epi20. T for minor violence later on._

"Looks like a nine mm, boss," McGee observed as he snapped photos of the crime scene, doing his best to ignore the sweat starting to drip down his face. It was a very warm summer day, and wearing the thick NCIS jacket as he was, McGee felt like he might join the Marine laying on his back on the path leading to the doorway of a small house. Thorny rose bushes lined the path, their branches in dire need of trimming, and their blossoms drooping.

"Where's Ducky?" Gibbs asked, crouching down and searching the body for a wallet to use for identification after McGee had finished with pictures of the body. The junior field agent had given him that mobile-fingerprint-scanner-thing yesterday, but the small device made about as much sense to him as his cell phone did.

"Palmer probably read the map upside down again. Hey, Gibbs-"

"I found the gun!" called Agent Barrett from behind a cluster of the bushes. Gibbs glanced up at the gun she holding in an ungloved hand, and froze, staring at the hand. The rest of the MCRT stopped their work to look at her, and silence reigned for a moment before Tony said awkwardly, "Um, EJ, you see, Gibbs has these rules, and one of them, rule 2, is to-"

"Always wear gloves at a crime scene!" Gibbs finished for him, angrily standing and glaring at the supposed 'field agent'. "Have you ever even worked a crime scene? You just screwed up our investigation, 'Agent' Barrette-"

"Barrett, and yes, actually I have-"

"Then get some gloves on and bag and tag it!" Gibbs glared at EJ until she pulled some gloves out of her then returned to his work, saying, "McGee, go find some security cameras and question the neighbors."

Agent Barrett nodded and moved away leisurely. Gibbs turned to look at Tony, who was staring after EJ. "Either get me a TOD or call Ducky, DiNozzo." He said exasperatedly. Without a word, Tony reached into his pocket, and, slowly tearing his gaze away from Agent Barrett's retreating back, pulled out his phone. He stepped away and punched in some numbers.

"I'm certified to do a TOD," Agent Barrett said to Gibbs, returning from the bushes. Gibbs opened his mouth to give a sharp retort back that he would prefer his professional ME's judgment when DiNozzo came back.

"Ducky's got a flat and Palmer called in sick." Gibbs frowned, rule 39 coming to mind. "DiNozzo, go pick up Ducky and have him meet us-"

"The victim died between twelve and thirteen hours ago," Agent Barrett interrupted. She began to go on about how she knew, but stopped at the look on Gibbs face, the one that said _I don't really care._ "Go help McGee with the witnesses," he finally said, after glaring at her for a while. She had held up remarkably well to his gaze, with a triumphant look of her own. Making a mental note to keep a close eye on this strange kid, he turned back to the body, reluctantly removing the scanning device from his backpack. Its imposing dark screen seemed to laugh at him, daring him to try and use it. Regardless of the fact that Gibbs could feel DiNozzo's questioning eyes on his back, he grabbed the Marine's hand and hit the device up against it. When nothing happened, he jammed the corpse's thumb against the screen. The screen remained black. Resorting to his favorite method of making technology work, he banged the device against the sidewalk.

"Boss! Whoa, there! Let me do it!" DiNozzo rushed over to Gibbs' side, taking the offending piece of plastic and McGee-stuff and pressing a switch on its side. "Try it now, _gently_ this time."

"The Marine whose body you found, Chief Petty Officer Dan Harris, was part of a top-secret operation known as Operation Standpoint. All that I am authorized to tell you is that Standpoint worked with analyzing special and undercover ops," Director Leon Vance said to Gibbs as they stood in his office. Gibbs just looked back at him with one eyebrow raised. "I'm sorry, Gibbs. SecNav believes that that is all you and your team needs to know to investigate this murder."

"Don't apologize, Director," Gibbs replied, and took a small sip of coffee from the ever-present cup in his hand. He would have said more, but Vance's telephone rang, signaling the end of the meeting.

"Gibbs, wait," the director called to Gibbs as the agent opened the door to leave. "Have your team, along with Special Agent Barrett, come up here immediately. Your job just got more difficult."

A minute later, the four special agents were crowded into Vance's office as the director paced back and forth behind his desk. After a moment of somewhat-awkward silence, he stopped and began to speak in a low voice.

"I was just informed that a small number of documents involving Operation Standpoint have been stolen. These documents contained information about several minor but still important undercover missions from a variety of agencies, including the CIA. SecNav is concerned that this leak has something to do with our dead Marine in Autopsy, and that possibly both Operation Standpoint and the CIA security system have been compromised." Vance allowed a moment for the implications of his statements to sink in before his phone rang. "Vance," he said sharply after picking it up. He listened for a moment and hung up without another word.

"Careful there, Director. You're starting to act like Gibbs," DiNozzo joked with forced cheeriness.

Unamused, Vance stated simply, "The CIA has sent a man to be part of your investigation. Go get him caught up to speed." Silently, the team filed out. "Oh, and Special Agent Barrett, I called in your team. Brief them. We're going to need as many skilled investigators as we can get our hands on."

"You know, this reminds of a movie I once saw…it starred this buff first-time actor as a cop investigating a murder. The dead guy turned out to be another cop, and as the first cop was investigating the guy's death, he found out that the dead cop had been stealing stuff from the office when he was alive," EJ commented as the team descended down the stairs to the bullpen.

"Oh yeah, that was a good one!" Tony laughed. "And the investigating cop had this really hot female sidekick who could totally kick butt!" She grinned and slid her arm through his. "Not around them!" Tony hissed, glancing at the former Marine and the junior agent a couple stairs ahead of them. But he didn't remove his arm as they reached the bottom of the stairs and walked to the bullpen, where a man was lounging in Ziva's chair.

The man leapt up as the team arrived and held up his credentials. "Special Agent Ray Cruz, CIA. I'm here to help you investigate-"

"Chief Petty Officer Dan Harris's death. Yeah, we know," Gibbs said. "I'm going to Autopsy. Have something when I get back," he told Tony and McGee before striding to the elevator.

A truly awkward silence reigned for a second before McGee coughed and introduced himself. "Um, I'm Special Agent McGee, this is Special Agent…" he trailed off as he looked over at Tony, who was staring open-mouthed at the man from the CIA with EJ still on his arm.

"You're…You're…You're CIA Ray! The Miami Heat!" Tony exclaimed. He pulled away from EJ and walked over to Special Agent Cruz, and shook the man's hand. "Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, Ziva's partner."

"Ah yes, Tony! Ziva has told me much about you and your movie fascination. It is good to finally put a face to the man she calls her brother." At that, Tony's smile dropped a fraction, but he just nodded politely and walked back to EJ.

"And this is Special Agent EJ Barrett, who is head of a team from Rota, Spain," McGee finished the introductions.

"Thank you, McGee, but we've met," EJ said coldly, her blue eyes empty of emotion as she almost-glared at Cruz.

"Agent Barrett. Going to screw up my investigation again? 'Cause this time you won't get away with it." He matched her gaze with equal emotion and her tone with equal temperature.

The elevator door dinged open, saving McGee and Tony from witnessing what would probably have turned into an all-out fist-fight.

"Saved by the…" Tony began, before his jaw dropped (again) as he saw the two men walking out of the elevator. One was an African-American of average height, and the other a very large and buff white man wearing glasses. _That guy could've played in the Super Bowl!_ Tony thought.

"Ah, my team," EJ said, walking towards them before turning to look back at Tony. "Lunch when I'm done?"

"Sure," he replied, his voice slightly higher than normal.


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or anything related to NCIS._

_I am very sorry that it has taken me so long to update. What with two weeks of testing, a boatload of homework, preparing for graduation, and to top it all off, not allowing me to log in, I have had next to no time for writing. But anyway, on with the story! (And I promise that I will update much sooner next time)_

"Ah, Jethro!" Ducky called, without turning away from the body in front of him, as the autopsy doors slid open.

"What've you got for me, Duck?" Gibbs asked unnecessarily, for the man never really came down to Autopsy for any other reason.

"Cause of death, quite obviously, is a bullet through the frontal lobe," Ducky said, pointing at the hole in the young man's forehead. The boy had had regulation-cut dark brown hair, sharp facial features, and the typical muscled body of all Marines. "There was what I believe is gun-shot residue on his face, and, if you will look at these slides, you will see that his cranium was fractured from when he fell onto the pavement after being shot." The shade of the man's hair was not unlike Agent David's, now that he thought about it. Not that he believed that they were related; her features were more exotic, more elegant, than this man's. However, he did slightly resemble a boy from Ducky's childhood…

"Anything unusual?"

"Yes, yes, quite a few things, actually," Ducky replied, bustling over to the man's left wrist. "There is some recent bruising here on his wrist, which suggests that he might have been wearing a heavy metal bracelet, or-"

"Handcuffs attached to a briefcase," Gibbs finished. "Thanks, Ducky," he said as he began to leave.

"Wait, Jethro. There's more." Gibbs returned to the slab, where Ducky had pulled out an evidence bag containing a cellphone. "I also found this in the man's boot, an odd hiding place, I would say. And… I think you might find this helpful…" he trailed off, and began to roll the body over to lay face-down.

The man's back was covered in purple, yellow and black stripes, as well as a few shallow lacerations. "He was tortured…" Gibbs growled, turning on his heel and exiting Autopsy. Ducky watched the former Marine walk away, noting that something seemed to be bothering him, for the man summoned the elevator with excessive force.

The bullpen was unnaturally silent. There was none of the usual bickering or back-and-forth teasing. Instead, the McGoo was typing furiously on his keyboard (not that that was much of a change); CIRay was sitting in Ziva's seat, doing Lord-knows-what on the computer, but nonetheless silent; and he, Tony, was alternating between background-checking Chief Petty Officer Harris and stealing glances at the team across the divider as well as at the desk opposite his.

"McGee," he said, twirling in his chair to face the junior field agent.

"Yes, Tony?" McGee replied. His eyes didn't even leave his computer screen.

"Campfire."

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm a little busy over here."

"Yes, I know you look like Matthew Broderick in that 80's movie _WarGames_, but I think you can spare a moment."

McGee sighed and paused his computer before getting up and walking the few yards to Tony's desk. "That actually was a pretty good movie, but the sequel was awful."

To his surprise, Tony didn't comment on the fact that McGee had understood one of his movie references, but instead leaned close to McGee and whispered, "What do you think has happened to Ziva?"

"Well, she, uh, probably just took the day off. She's done it before."

"Yeah, you might be right…" Tony glanced over at the CIA agent, who had by now stopped whatever he was doing to look over at them.

"What've you got?" Gibbs called, striding in to the bullpen and turning expectantly to the plasma.

"Chief Petty Officer Dan Harris," Tony said smoothly, the plasma's remote in his hand as he stood up. "was only really a Chief Petty Officer by pay grade, because he wasn't working with junior personnel, as your typical CPO would. He served a tour in Iraq and another in Afghanistan before being transferred to Operation Standpoint because of his, quote, 'unique talents'. He was a Naval Academy grad, with a degree in computer science. Record was clean as a whistle, predictably."

"He was single, but several of his friends confirmed that he is currently dating Rachel Nicholson, a civilian living in D.C., and the woman who owned the house where he was shot. No siblings and his parents both died in a car crash a few years ago," McGee reported.

"His involvement with Operation Standpoint consisted of analyzing the reports of the ops, like expense reports, psych evaluations and other stuff," Cruz stepped in. "Hardly to-kill-for information. My supervisory agent used his clearance to get me that, so you can trust me," he added when Gibbs looked at him questioningly.

"Ducky says Harris had a briefcase attached to his wrist when he died," Gibbs said in turn. He paused for a moment, and then continued. "And he was tortured."

"Ouch," Tony winced, as McGee said, "So we can be pretty sure that Harris stole the information Vance mentioned-" "and that he was forced to do it," Cruz finished.

"You think?" Gibbs asked rhetorically. Turning around to look at EJ and her team, who were crowded around Agent Cade's computer, he called, "You three. Over here. Now." Then looking at Cruz, he said, "Fill them in. McGee, have the girlfriend come in. Tony, with me to check up with Abby."

As usual, death metal music filled the speakers in Abby's lab. The forensic scientist rushed over from her computer, and pulled the two agents by their hands to see what she was doing. Of course, the hand she grabbed Gibbs by was not the one holding her precious Caf-Pow.

"Ok, so I collected samples from the victim's clothes and there were traces of gun-shot residue on his uniform coat, and I—" she said in a rush before Gibbs stopped her.

"Slow down, Abs. Is something wrong?"

"Well…yes. No. Possibly." Abby made indecisive gestures with her hands as she answered.

"Just tell me what you've got." Gibbs smiled slightly, waving his hand at the computer screen.

"Slooooowwwllyyyy, this time," Tony cut in, with a mock-stupid expression on his face.

"Right. I collected samples from the victim's clothes and there were traces of gun-shot residue on his uniform coat. So, judging by the amount of it, I would say that the gun was about six to eight inches from his face."

Tony looked sideways at her. "And that is a problem because…"

"Well, it isn't, really. I wasn't to that part yet. I dusted for fingerprints on the gun, and I, well, the ones I found belong to…" Abby trailed off worriedly and pulled up a driver's license photo. Of one Erica Jane Barrett. When neither Gibbs or Tony looked surprised, her expression changed to one of confusion. "Wait…she didn't break rule number two, did she?"

"She's never really been introduced to the rules before," Tony defended his girlfriend before getting roughly slapped on the back of the head.

"She should know better. What else have you got?" Gibbs snapped.

"I see…" Abby said mysteriously. "Anyway, so, the other stuff: his boots were recently scuffed, so I would say that he was running a _lot_ before he got shot. The laptop found in the house had been thrown against the wall, but of course I was able to fix it. Gibbs, our man had been receiving encrypted e-mails for three months! And the encryption, I haven't seen anything this complicated since we were working with the _Department_ of Encryption!" she finished worriedly.

"DiNozzo, get McGee down here to help Abby."

"On it, Boss."

"And Abs, I need you to check out this cell phone, as well," Gibbs said to the scientist, who was already busy working on the encryption again, and put the evidence bag next to her keyboard. "Good work."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I do not own NCIS or any of its characters, but I do have an NCIS hat

"We seriously need to get some new kinds of food here," Tony complained as he looked in the refrigerator of the NCIS break room. "I'm so _sick_ of bagels, fruit, and yogurt!" Settling on a fake-looking red apple, he closed the fridge door and sat down at a table with his blond girlfriend.

"You're right; it was much better in Rota," E.J. agreed. She held up a small cup of yogurt. "You would think that the government would value us enough to give us a _real _lunch!"

Tony laughed. "I don't think this exactly qualifies as lunch anymore." He pointed to his watch. "It's already 5:30."

E.J.'s eyebrows raised in surprise. She wrenched his watch arm closer to her and made a big show of examining the time before falling back into her chair with a sigh. "I guess that means I should be getting back to my team."

"Aw, come on. You've barely touched your lunch!"

"I know, I know. But do you think that SecNav cares? He wants results yesterday." Tony couldn't come up with a suitable answer and just sat there looking at her. E.J. leaned across the table and kissed him, hard, and then stood up. "Want to go get dinner together tonight, then?"

Just then, her cell phone rang. She whipped it out of her pocket, made a face at the name she saw on the screen, and turned away slightly. "_What_, Agent Cruz?" E.J. snapped when she answered the call. "I'm _coming_ for God's sake, hold your horses!" She hung up and returned to Tony. "So, dinner tonight?"

It was his turn to sigh. "I don't know, E.J….We've had a lot of late nights lately, what with all the cases that have been piling up, and I'm kind of tired…maybe tomorrow, though."

A hurt look came across E.J.'s face, but it was quickly replaced by annoyance when her phone rang again. Without another word, she turned and stalked off back to the bullpen. Tony watched her walk away, his eyes seeing how her clothes hugged her body, but his mind puzzling over the brief exchange on the phone. What had happened between those two?

Gibbs gazed at the blond-haired woman on the other side of the polished conference table with a blank stare that gave away nothing. She had arrived half an hour ago, while Tony and E.J. were taking a break, and McGee was down in Abby's lab, leaving Gibbs to break the news to the blond woman of her boyfriend's death. She was now sobbing quietly into a white handkerchief embroidered with the initials DJH.

"Ms. Nicholson, when was the last time you saw Chief Petty Officer Harris?" Gibbs inquired quietly.

"Uh, y-yesterday, I th-think," she replied, putting her handkerchief away and attempting to compose herself.

"Had he been acting unusual?"

"A l-little, I guess. I mean, he's usually preoccupied with his work, so sometimes he's a little d-distant…but lately he has…I mean he _had_ been a bit more distant…"

"Like how distant?"

"Oh, I don't really know!" Rachel Nicholson flustered, becoming upset again. Tears started to leak out of her eyes. "He d-didn't really want to do anything, so we j-just ate and watched TV, mostly…"

Gibbs gave her a moment to regain her composure before continuing. When the crying subsided, he switched to a different topic. "Did he ever talk about his work?" If the bureaucrats upstairs wouldn't give him anything, he would have to resolve to slightly cruder methods.

"Not really, no. B-but sometimes, if it had been a particularly bad day, we would talk about it for hours until we both fell asleep on each other's shoulders." Gibbs waited for her to continue, thinking that his next question was unnecessary. "He said his work was confidential."

"Oh, don't worry. I have clearance," he lied slightly.

"He would sometimes complain about the bad decisions the undercover people would make, and how he would've done something different. Usually it didn't really affect the operation, but it generated a lot more paperwork for him to analyze. And then there would be the black ops that he couldn't believe he had clearance to know about, the ones that could have started World War III if anything more had gone wrong." Ms. Nicholson seemed lost in thought, and continued on with her recitation, but Gibbs had heard most of what he needed to hear. CPO Harris had had access to information about any operation ever performed, including black ops. His security clearance must have been equal to that of the President's. Higher, possibly. And if there had been any documents in the missing briefcase…yes, the MCRT had a huge case on their hands, and they were still a man down.

"So what is the CIA guy like?" Abby asked McGee as she worked on cracking the encryption. She had been thankful that Gibbs sent him down here, because there was no way she could work on both the encrypted e-mails _and _review the security camera tapes sent from where Harris had worked _and_ the cell phone, which was also strangely encrypted. Right now, her head was so full of numbers and letters and symbols that she _really _needed something else to think about.

"He's okay, I guess. I mean, he and Agent Barrett have obviously worked together before, but it certainly didn't go well," he replied, not turning from the computer screen in front of him. He paused, considering what Abby's reaction would be to his next piece of information about Agent Cruz. "And…apparently he's Ziva's boyfriend."

The monotonous sound of typing that had filled the room recently suddenly became much quieter. "You're kidding, right? He's here and she isn't?"

McGee just nodded, his attention having turned back to the black-and-white security film running in front of him.

"Yes!" Abby cried, and turned to exit her lab. "Cover for me, Timmy, I must go meet this guy!" she suddenly stopped before he could even reply. "McGee, is he better than…" Abby couldn't even bring herself to say his name. McGee temporarily left his work and moved to look at her. "I don't know, Abs. But I really hope so, for her sake."

Tony sat at his desk, finding himself again looking across the aisle at his partner's empty seat. Apparently EJ's phone call from Agent Cruz had involved them going off to talk to Vance and the director of the CIA.

Tony wondered what had gone on between those two agents. Why was there so much bad blood between them? He could ask EJ herself, but she was like Ziva in the way that she didn't really like to talk about her past.

And that Agent Cruz…he seemed pretty nice, but there was just something Tony didn't like about the man, whether it was the fact that he assumed the fact that he could sit at Ziva's desk, or merely that he worked for the CIA.

Deciding that since no one was really going to tell him about Cruz and EJ's history together, Tony turned to have the McGeek research it. But of course, the probie was down in Abby's lab, doing whatever the heck it is they do. Huh. Now that he thought about I, no one really _does_ know what transpires in that lab. Maybe…

Tony pushed the thought out of his head, and turned back to his computer. He opened a new search, and was about to type in his query when his mind flashed back to an event about two years ago…

_He pulled the trigger, once, twice, four times, sending a deadly quartet of bullets into the Israeli man's chest. The traitor was dead, and Tony's months of researching the man behind everyone's backs had finally paid off. She was safe now, no one would betray her or harm her. He hadn't quite meant to end up killing him when he came here, but there was nothing he could do about it now._

_Then…_

_An enraged Ziva had him pinned to the ground, her gun pressed to his sternum as she yelled at him, her eyes a fiery storm of pain, anger, and grief over the death of her boyfriend._

Tony didn't want to interfere with one of her relationships again, not after those disastrous consequences. And he didn't think EJ would appreciate him digging into her past, either. But his natural curiousity and the suspicion that this job had given him propelled him to cross-reference the two names.

_Here goes nothin'…_

A figure is thrust into a derelict room containing nothing but a thin mattress on a small wooden bed frame. A bag loosely covers the figures head, and rough rope binds its hands together. THe door to the room slams shut, and only then does a low moan escape the figure. With a quick movement, the bag is thrown off the figure's head, revealing a disoriented woman with dark hair, tan skin, and hazy, mahogany eyes.

Ziva.

Tony leaned back in his chair, his eyelids heavy and brain hurting from a combination of sleep-deprivation and the stress of an important case. Gibbs had come and gone, not an unusual occurrence. McGee, the dedicated little probie, was probably still down in Abby's lab.

The search that he had begun about four hours ago had been interrupted by the other back-grounding required for the current case. With Ziva absent and McGee doing his thing, Tony had to do the work of three people. EJ and Cruz had their own set of orders to follow, mainly liaison stuff between the agencies but also looking into what precisely had been in the briefcase, from what Tony had been able to hear from across the divider.

But, he decided it was time to check up on his personal search.

Exhausted yet alert eyes began to read the document on the screen, after a quick clearance check. Some of the text had been blacked out, but it was obviously a case report from a few years back. There was the mention of an undercover op in a Middle Eastern country, an op that had resulted in the death of a Marine temporarily residing at a US embassy. The Marine's name was blacked out, as well as the name of the country in which he had been killed. EJ had been a senior field agent at the time, and her team, specializing, in overseas investigations had been the NCIS team following leads. Cruz had been part of the CIA delegation. However, there had been some disagreements between the two teams, epitomizing when some of their collective intelligence had been leaked to their prime suspect, and the man fled. There was a huge blacked-out paragraph following this information, and then a simple sentence stating that each team had blamed the other but no one was convicted.

The search revealed nothing else, and Tony was much too tired to really think about what he had just read. He put it off until morning, and left for his apartment.

Tony fell more than sat down onto his couch. He didn't understand why he was so tired; he had worked a much longer day before. Wondering if he was getting to old for his job, his barely-focused gaze wandered over to his movie shelf. It was then that he saw a shadow hidden in the corner. The shadow held a raised gun. Then the shadow pulled the trigger.

**Author's Note: **The story will continue in Déjà vu, Part 2!

And I know I have been awful at updating this story, so I promise that Part 2 will updated at least weekly. (It helps that I have already written Part 2)

Enjoy your summer!


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